Janine Booth - Marxismhttp://janinebooth.com/issues-and-campaigns/marxism
Theoretical articles, notes and events from the perspective of working-class self-emancipation.
enMarxism and Autismhttp://janinebooth.com/content/marxism-and-autism
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/marx_0.png?itok=pAIjTDSj" width="220" height="220" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://www.workersliberty.org/node/30998"><em>Published in Solidairty 434, 29 March 2017:</em></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Can Marxism can help us to understand autistic experience in modern capitalism? How might Marxism inform our struggles for equality and liberation?</p>
<p>There are different approaches to understanding autism. Perhaps the dominant approach is a medical one: seeing autism as a disease or tragedy, and autistic people as being broken and needing fixing. Over recent years, a more progressive approach has developed. It stresses acceptance of autistic people rather than simply “awareness”, and demands rights, equality and support rather than abusive “treatments”.</p>
<p>This approach is based on the concept of neurodiversity: the recognition that the human species is neurologically diverse; that different people have different brain wiring. But this more progressive approach, while welcome, does not necessarily locate autism and neurodiversity within the social, economic and political structures of society. It is important to do this — firstly, because all disability exists in a social context; and secondly, because autism is largely an issue of how people interact socially. We are all expected to follow social rules, but who makes those social rules, and how?</p>
<p><strong>Definitions: Autism and Marxism</strong></p>
<p>Autism is an atypical neurology, an unusual brain wiring. Perhaps if the majority of the population is Windows, autistic people are Mac. This atypical neurology leads to atypical processing, cognitive functioning and communication, differences in social interaction and sensitivity to sensory inputs such as sound or light.</p>
<p>Marxism is scientific socialism. It studies socialism rather than just wishing for it, providing a critique of capitalism and advocating the self-emancipation of the working-class, the basic exploited class under capitalism. Marx described the working class as having “radical chains”, meaning the potential and power to liberate not just itself but other oppressed people too. Marxism sees change — and social liberation — coming through class struggle, with the ultimate aim of abolishing the division of society into classes.</p>
<p><strong>The impact of capitalism on autistic lives</strong></p>
<p>When capitalism became the established system, it brought development, knowledge, understanding, scientific enquiry, and the potential of providing more support for people. It accelerated production. It was a big improvement on what came before it. However, it also increased — and still increases — social pressure. It brings people together in a much more intense way, and puts a premium on how “good” you are socially.</p>
<p>Capitalism also increases light, noise and other sensory stimulation. For autistic people, modern capitalism is both developed and distressing. It brings huge advantages, great potential, but it also brings great distress. When we talk about autistic people being disabled, we mean that capitalism disables autistic people.</p>
<p><strong>Explaining increasing diagnoses</strong></p>
<p>There has been a significant increase in autism diagnosis over recent years. Why? Some who take a medical model approach explain it as an epidemic. A graphic circulated in the US declares: 10 years ago, 1 in 1000; 5 years ago, 1 in 500; today 1 in 88; and asks “scared yet?”</p>
<p>I am more scared of the thinking behind that graphic than I am of the increasing recognition of the prevalence of autism. The more progressive and accurate explanation is that rather than the prevalence of autism increasing, it is our recognition of it that is growing: society has an increased awareness of autism; there is a greater availability of diagnosis; and the criteria for diagnosing autism have been steadily widened over the years.</p>
<p>We can go further than this. The increasing social pressure that capitalism places on people, the increasing sensory overload that it throws at us, is causing more and more distress, so more and more autistic people are seeking diagnosis in order to access help. Society and its autistic members are coming into conflict with each other more and more. A lot of autistic people get their autism diagnosis having initially sought help for a mental health problem such as anxiety or depression.</p>
<p><strong>Austerity and class differences in autistic experience</strong></p>
<p>Since the economic crisis started in 2008, governments have pursued austerity policies, making working-class people pay for an economic crisis that we did not create. Those policies have deepened poverty and taken away access to support. In that situation, and in difficult situations generally, autistic people from wealthier families can often cope better. This is not to say that life is easy if you are from a wealthy background, but at least there is more access to resources and care.</p>
<p>Public spending cuts are directly affecting autistic people. Services have had their funding cut or have closed, including family support services, employment support services, day centres and other services. Austerity also causes social distress and insecurity, so it increases autistic people’s need for support with one hand, and takes away that support with the other.</p>
<p><strong>Charity?</strong></p>
<p>Often you are expected to turn to charities when there is no public support available. But although some autism charities do provide some useful services, they play a negative role too. They reinforce the view of autistic people as objects of pity, often using patronising imagery to attract donations. They are rarely led by autistic people, and they don’t always stand on the same side as those of us fighting for liberation.</p>
<p>The misnamed US charity Autism Speaks promotes horrendous negative views of autism as a “tragedy”, and is regularly picketed by autistic activists. In the UK, the National Autistic Society is not nearly as bad, but it has an unacceptably wide pay gap between its senior managers and its support workers, and in 2013/14 it provoked teaching unions to strike by expecting teachers in its schools to work for lower pay than nationally-agreed rates for teachers in mainstream state schools.</p>
<p><strong>Autism, neurodiversity, and production</strong></p>
<p>In any Marxist analysis, it is important to look at the exploitation of labour. Autistic people are disadvantaged in employment. These statistics are for the UK, but the situation is similar elsewhere: • 43% of autistic adults have left or lost a job because of their condition • 41% of autistic adults over 55 have spent over 10 years without a paid job • 37% of autistic adults have never been in paid employment after the age of 16 • 15% of autistic adults are in full-time employment</p>
<p>Under the pretext of the economic crisis, employers have waged an offensive, with high-pressure management techniques and insecure employment. The rise of short-term contracts, unpredictable working hours and zero-hours contracts has a detrimental effect on all workers — but if you have an autistic mindset, and rely on predictability and routine, the impact can be even worse.</p>
<p>We have also seen a shift towards “customer service”, towards “soft” or “social” skills being valued above technical skills, even in quite technical industries such as public transport. We have seen public services commodified, with service users now seen as “customers”.</p>
<p>This can cause problems for people whose focus is their technical ability at the job rather than on narrowly-defined social skills. But alongside that, we have seen employers making more effort to recruit and accommodate autistic workers. While that is welcome, sometimes those employers let slip that one of their reasons is that they see the potential to exploit autistic people.</p>
<p>They talk about how much more productive certain autistic people may be, and how they are less likely to be distracted by social gossip. They may well be “cherry-picking” those autistic workers with the highest level of skill and the lowest level of support need. Such employers are commodifying autistic people’s talents rather than valuing them.</p>
<p><strong>Workers’ control</strong></p>
<p>Work under capitalism is highly regimented, in its pace, its methods, its processes and its targets. Work provides very little or no scope or flexibility for people who think differently and who want to do things in a different way.</p>
<p>Crucial to winning a better future for autistic people, particularly in the area of work, is to change work not workers. There is plenty of advice available to autistic people on how to get or keep a job, but most of it is based around how to change ourselves to impress the employer and to “fit in” at work – basically, how to act like you are not autistic.</p>
<p>Far better than that would be for work itself to change, with the work environment, the pace and methods of work made more accessible to people whatever their brain wiring. Central to that is the idea of workers’ control: both individually and collectively, workers having control over, for example, the sensory environment in the workplace and how the job is done.</p>
<p><strong>From the collective to the individual</strong></p>
<p>Over the last few decades, in the shadow of labour movement defeats, the political discourse has shifted focus from the collective to the individual. Rather than bringing recognition of individual rights and differences, though, it has undermined the prospects of collective progress. We also have an emphasis on “success” that sets people up to fail.</p>
<p>Because if society sets standard of success that you don’t meet then the implication is that you have fallen short, that it is somehow your fault. One example is the legal notion of “reasonable adjustments”, changes that must be made to enable an autistic or otherwise disabled person to participate equally.</p>
<p>It was a step forward that this was incorporated into disability discrimination legislation. However, you only get these adjustments as an individual, they are only made when you identify yourself and your disability, and you have to prove that you are somehow flawed to get the adjustments you need.</p>
<p>It would be far better for workplaces, services and society to change generally, to become more accessible and more autism-friendly, to address autistic disadvantage in a collective rather than just an individual way.</p>
<p><strong>The political economy of autism</strong></p>
<p>Karl Marx wrote about “the political economy of the working class”, meaning the working class fighting for laws and policies that benefit us even if that is costly to capitalism. If we wrote a list of the changes we want in order to achieve equality for autistic people, then the bill for capitalism might be quite hefty.</p>
<p>But that’s just tough — we want those changes, those measures to alleviate distress, to stop discrimination and exclusion. We want to advance equality, regardless of the cost to the existing capitalist system.</p>
<p>A group of autistic and otherwise neurodivergent activists are currently working with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell to draft an autism/neurodiversity manifesto — a list of policies for Labour to deliver significant progress towards equality. Labour movement demands will only win for autistic people if they reflect the neurodiversity of the working class — if, instead of assuming typical methods of thinking, they recognise that just as the working class is ethnically diverse, gender diverse, sexually and otherwise diverse, it is also neurologically diverse.</p>
<p>This opens up the discussion of what sort of society we are fighting for. What will socialism look like? How will it acknowledge and accept neurological diversity in a way that capitalism does not?</p>
<p><strong>Transforming the labour movement</strong></p>
<p>Autistic people fighting oppression want to be part of a united labour movement and left. We can facilitate that by auditing the failures of the left and the Labour Party, and by recognising our agency for change, our historical consciousness. We are not just analysing or commenting on society, we are trying to change it.</p>
<p>Our own movement will only be effective on this issue if it is habitable and accessible to autistic people. Trade unions, Labour Party, socialist groups –—think about your events, your activities, your publications, your members’ behaviour: would an autistic person find them welcoming or distressing? What changes can you make? What are you missing out on while you remain inhospitable?</p>
<p>Trade unions have recently increased work on this issue, but there is still a long way to go.</p>
<p><strong>Taking this discussion forward</strong></p>
<p>We might look in more detail at whether these and other theoretical approaches can be useful in understanding autistic experience under capitalism:</p>
<ul><li><em>Historical materialism</em>: Karl Marx’s method of understanding society by studying how it has produced and reproduced the material requirements of life through history, rather than just taking a snapshot of society as it currently stands.</li>
<li><em>Commodity fetishism</em>: Marx wrote about the way in which under capitalism, the social relationships involved in production are presented as economic relations; human factors become commodities.</li>
<li><em>Alienation</em>: Marx also wrote about how under capitalism, the products of your labour are taken from you, leading to social alienation from various aspects of our humanity.</li>
<li><em>Anomie</em> and <em>forced division of labour</em>: Sociologist Émile Durkheim developed theories of breakdown of social norms and of how the profit motive drives people into unsuitable work.</li>
<li><em>Cultural hegemony</em>: Marxist Antonio Gramsci wrote about the way in which a society which is, or has the potential to be, culturally diverse, comes to be dominated by the ideas and culture of the ruling class to the exclusion of those that do not fit in with its norms.</li>
<li><em>Stigma</em>: Sociologist Erving Goffman wrote about the idea of stigma as being socially discrediting, and how society disadvantages minorities who it sees as deviant.</li>
<li><em>Social model of disability</em>: For hundreds of years, disability was seen as something wrong with the individual, that needed fixing, shutting away or pitying. In the 1970s, the radical disabled people’s movement developed a new approach, distinguishing impairment from disability and arguing that society disables people with impairments by setting up barriers to equal and independent participation.</li>
</ul><p>This is only the start of a discussion about Marxism and autism. There is a lot more work to be done, more avenues of understanding to explore.</p>
<p>Join the debate:</p>
<ul><li>Discussions about Marxism and Autism have taken place under the auspices of PARC: the Participatory Autism Research Centre – further discussions will be scheduled soon.</li>
<li>Two Workers’ Liberty branches are holding public meetings on Marxism and Autism this week, with discussions led by Janine Booth:
<ul><li>Leeds: Monday 3 April, 6.30-8.30pm, Packhorse Pub, Woodhouse Lane</li>
<li>Newcastle: Wednesday 5 April, 7-9pm, Broadacre House, Market Street</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Online material and discussions on Janine’s website, here: <a href="http://www.janinebooth.com/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">www.janinebooth.com/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism</a></li>
</ul></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-writing field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Writing:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/writing/articles">Articles</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/equalities">Equalities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/autism">Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/politics-and-protest">Politics and Protest</a></div></div></div>Sat, 01 Apr 2017 07:09:57 +0000Janine937 at http://janinebooth.comMarxism and Autism: Newcastlehttp://janinebooth.com/content/marxism-and-autism-newcastle
<div class="field field-name-field-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">Wednesday, April 5, 2017 - <div class="date-display-range"><span class="date-display-start">19:00</span> to <span class="date-display-end">21:00</span></div></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/marx_0.png" title="Marxism and Autism: Newcastle" class="colorbox" data-colorbox-gallery="gallery-node-934-bBtCoRVSEwk"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/marx_0.png?itok=pAIjTDSj" width="220" height="220" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Janine introduces a discussion on Marxism and Autism. Can Marxism help explain the autistic experience under capitalism, and contribute to our fight against oppression?</p>
<p>Venue: Broadacre House, Market Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 6HQ</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/equalities">Equalities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/autism">Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/autism-workplace">Autism in the workplace</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/politics-and-protest">Politics and Protest</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-media field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Media:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media/speeches">Speeches</a></div></div></div>Sat, 25 Mar 2017 19:16:52 +0000Janine934 at http://janinebooth.comAutism and Marxism discussion, Leedshttp://janinebooth.com/content/autism-and-marxism-discussion-leeds
<div class="field field-name-field-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">Monday, April 3, 2017 - <div class="date-display-range"><span class="date-display-start">18:30</span> to <span class="date-display-end">20:00</span></div></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/marx.png" title="Autism and Marxism discussion, Leeds" class="colorbox" data-colorbox-gallery="gallery-node-901-bBtCoRVSEwk"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/marx.png?itok=Uwin_-yU" width="220" height="220" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Janine introduces a discussion on Marxism and Autism. Can Marxism help explain the autistic experience under capitalism, and contribute to our fight against oppression?</p>
<p>Packhorse pub, Woodhouse Lane.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/autism-workplace">Autism in the workplace</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-media field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Media:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media/speeches">Speeches</a></div></div></div>Sun, 12 Feb 2017 21:32:05 +0000Janine901 at http://janinebooth.comAutism and Marxismhttp://janinebooth.com/content/autism-and-marxism
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/default_images/jb-default-pic.png?itok=ghDg9WsE" width="220" height="220" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A 20-minute PowerPoint presentation discussing whether Marxism can help us to understand autistic experience in modern capitalism, and how it might inform our struggles for liberation.</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_7eg7F9MUkU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">
</iframe></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-media field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Media:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/videos">Videos</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/equalities">Equalities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/autism">Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/autism-workplace">Autism in the workplace</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div></div></div>Tue, 03 Jan 2017 14:52:26 +0000Janine865 at http://janinebooth.comInformal Discussion on Autism and Marxism, Leedshttp://janinebooth.com/content/informal-discussion-autism-and-marxism-leeds
<div class="field field-name-field-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">Tuesday, September 20, 2016 - 19:00</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/default_images/event-default-image.png" title="Informal Discussion on Autism and Marxism, Leeds" class="colorbox" data-colorbox-gallery="gallery-node-741-bBtCoRVSEwk"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/default_images/event-default-image.png?itok=euyJyjq8" width="220" height="220" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>In a pub somewhere near the Lovell Park Autism Hub. Meet outside the Hub at 7pm or text 07957-217639 to find out where we are! Janine will give a take about Marxism and Autism, then we'll chat about it. Can Marxism explain the social position and experiences of autistic people? Are there specific Marxist theories that are useful? Is capitalism both developed and disabling? What's class got to do with it?</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/equalities">Equalities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/autism">Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/politics-and-protest">Politics and Protest</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-media field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Media:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media/speeches">Speeches</a></div></div></div>Sat, 10 Sep 2016 15:41:53 +0000Janine741 at http://janinebooth.comMarxism and Autism discussion notes, 11 June 2016http://janinebooth.com/content/marxism-and-autism-discussion-notes-11-june-2016
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/marx.jpg?itok=6AyrwsJI" width="220" height="220" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Janine read through the notes from the previous meeting, and reported on the process to draw up a Labour Party autism/neurodiversity manifesto. Discussion followed, and included:</p>
<p><strong>Capitalism and autism</strong><br />
- capitalism makes problems and pressures for us<br />
- capitalism is both developed and distressing, and increasingly so<br />
- work provides no scope for people who think differently<br />
- is neurodiversity "good for business"?<br />
- class differences in autistic experience; autistic people from bourgeois families can often cope better<br />
- education system: narrow curriculum</p>
<p><strong>Labour Party</strong><br />
- Autistic equality would be expensive to capitalism, so Labour in government could not do much.<br />
- Nevertheless, we demand that it challenges capital: Marx's concept of the political economy of the (neurodiverse) working class.<br />
- Should we call on Labour to add a tenth protected characteristic to the Equality Act: neurological status?</p>
<p><strong>The politics of autism charities</strong><br />
- ignoring autistic people's demands to campaign against false/abusive 'treatments'/'cures'<br />
- reliant on funders<br />
- expect autistic people to work for free<br />
- NAS senior managers group includes no autistic people<br />
- narrow focus on education<br />
- if they were successful, charities would abolish themselves!<br />
- their patrons tend to be conservative<br />
- NAS is shifting its language and image, but what about its theory and practice?<br />
- There are, however, self-organised autistic social enterprises eg. Autscape, AutAngel, Autonomy Project.</p>
<p><strong>Diagnosis and identity</strong><br />
- 'identification' vs 'diagnosis'<br />
- differences in how society relates to visible and invisible disabilities<br />
- "You can go through half your life without a diagnosis or label but still know you are somehow different."<br />
- need to take care with terminology and avoid compartmentalising ourselves<br />
- this year's Autscape theme: 'identity'</p>
<p><strong>Campaigns and issues</strong><br />
- Justice for LB (Connor Sparrowhawk)<br />
- Steven Simpson<br />
- autistic people being detained in assessment and treatment units (ATUs) away from family<br />
- scapegoating of neurological conditions eg. when a mass killer is autistic, commentators focus on this rather than on their right-wing views<br />
- migration is good, and it makes diverse communication even more important</p>
<p><strong>Theories and approaches</strong><br />
- intersectionality, including people who have multiple neurodivergent conditions<br />
- Goffman's theory of stigma as socially discrediting<br />
- Simon Baron-Cohen's comment some issues eg. empathy, are unhelpful and woolly</p>
<p>We agreed to continue holding meetings following those of PARC (Participatory Autism Research Centre) at South Bank University<br /><em>- PARCs and Marx :-)</em><br />
</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div></div></div>Sun, 03 Jul 2016 15:23:57 +0000Janine660 at http://janinebooth.comMarxism and Autism discussion notes, 1 February 2016http://janinebooth.com/content/marxism-and-autism-discussion-notes-1-february-2016
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/marx_0.jpg?itok=lQzepTHj" width="220" height="220" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><strong>Preamble</strong><br />
As public understanding of autism grows, there are different approaches to understanding it.<br />
* A medical approach, which sees autism as a disease or a tragedy, that we are broken and need fixing</p>
<p>* A more progressive approach that recognises neurological diversity, but does not necessarily locate it within social structures.<br />
It is important to understand all disability within a social context, but perhaps especially so autism, as it relates to the way that people interact socially. If autistic people don’t follow social rules, we have to ask who makes those rules?</p>
<p><strong>So, we want to explore whether Marxism can help us understand autism and the autistic experience in our current society.</strong><br />
The impact of capitalism on current (autistic) lives.<br />
* Capitalism brought great development, enabling more scientific enquiry, understanding, support etc.<br />
* However, it has increased social pressure and sensory stimulation.<br />
* Modern capitalism is both developed and distressing.<br />
* Increased autism diagnosis: panicky medical-modellers say this shows an autism ‘epidemic’; the more progressive response says that no, it is because of increased awareness, availability of diagnosis etc. We might add that it may also be because social pressure / sensory overload causes such distress that more autistic people seek diagnosis in order to access help.<br />
* Capitalism put a premium on how good you are socially, which has made autism an issue.<br />
* Class differences in autistic experiences: poverty, access to support, etc. – this was mentioned in the notes but not developed in the discussion.</p>
<p><strong>Autism, neurodiversity and production.</strong><br />
* In a Marxist analysis, exploitation of labour is central.<br />
* Autistic people are disadvantaged in employment.<br />
* The employers' offensive and new management techniques (eg. de-staffing, ‘hot-desking’, performance management) have a detrimental effect on autistic workers as well as on other workers.<br />
* Insecure employment – temporary and zero-hour contracts etc – has an especially detrimental impact on autistic workers, as well as on other workers, due to insecurity and unpredictability; agency working has made us ‘disposable’ and easily replaced.<br />
* There has been a shift towards a ‘customer service’ approach, promoting ‘soft’/social skills above technical skills, and commodifying public services.<br />
* Marxist concepts such as alienation may be useful in understanding autistic people's experiences.<br />
* Change workplaces not workers!<br />
* Workers’ control would alleviate distress and discrimination as well as being a better economic model.<br />
* Exploitation and commodification of autistic people's special talents; the 'exotic other'; extraction of surplus value of our intellectual labour.</p>
<p><strong>The role of education</strong><br />
* Schools are excluding autistic students.<br />
* Schools value conformity, obedience to authority, competition, striving for perfection, etc - these create difficulties for autistic people.<br />
* There is a 'hidden curriculum' - the unwritten, unofficial, even unintended lessons that students learn about social norms.<br />
* Schools and universities mirror the capitalist mode of production, with a 'customer services' culture; they are a neo-liberal treadmill.<br />
* The current education system causes distress and mental health problems to autistic students.</p>
<p><strong>Autism and austerity</strong></p>
<p>* Cuts are effecting services for autistic people.<br />
* Austerity also causes social distress and insecurity.</p>
<p><strong>Shift from the collective to the individual</strong><br />
* Defeats of the labour movement have led to a collapse in political discourse from the collective to the individual, despite the rejection of Thatcher's view that "there is no such thing as society".<br />
* Public money is spent on berating people over lifestyle choices rather than challenging capital and its creation/exacerbation of social problems.<br />
* 1997-2010 Labour government's improvements in workers' rights were individual (and limited) rather than collective.<br />
* Exclusive emphasis on individual responsibility is a neo-liberal idea.<br />
* Emphasis on 'success' sets people up to fail.<br />
* Current legislation on 'reasonable adjustments' is inadequate, as it focuses on individual changes rather than requiring general accessibility.<br />
* Universal design requires eg. buildings, workplaces to be accessible and comfortable for all rather than requiring an individual to ask for a change.</p>
<p><strong>The political economy of autism</strong><br />
* And/or the political economy of the neurodiverse working class.* We can consider demands for political and economic change that would alleviate discrimination, exclusion and distress, and advance equality.<br />
* We can also advocate that the workers’ movement’s demands reflect the neurological diversity of the working class.<br />
* What sort of society are we fighting for?</p>
<p><strong>Our economic model</strong></p>
<p>* It is important not to simply repeat a mantra that economic growth is good, without regard to the future of the planet.<br />
Some Marxists have addressed this.<br />
* A modern Marxist analysis will address that we now live in a knowledge economy, that not all workplaces are factories. * A communistic economic model is more sustainable than a capitalistic economic model.<br />
* How can an autistic person own his/her different way of thinking?</p>
<p><strong>The social model of disability</strong><br />
* Contributors support this model and believe that it can be applied to autism.<br />
* It would be useful to have further discussion on how, and to engage with arguments against it.<br />
* For people with an autistic mindset, society is very disabling.</p>
<p><strong>Useful theoretical approaches</strong></p>
<p>* Historical materialism: It would be a mistake to attempt a ‘snapshot’ analysis of autism in society. It is important to consider historical experience and differences between societies.<br />
* Alienation<br />
* Durkheim’s theory of anomie, especially regarding mental health and distress<br />
* Commodity fetishism, especially regarding the marketing of autistic people’s special talents<br />
* Gramsci and cultural hegemony</p>
<p><strong>Liberation struggles</strong><br />
* Autistic people's struggles.<br />
* Record of autistic people organising together has been disastrous.<br />
* Need to build on each others' strengths.<br />
* Limitations of focusing to much on legal cases; collective mobilisation is more effective.* Autistic people in the disabled people's movement, which has kept up activism against austerity.<br />
* In critical disability and autism studies, and emancipatory research, there are objections to autism-specific work;<br />
tension between unity and respect for diversity</p>
<p><strong>Autistic people in the labour movement and on the left</strong><br />
* Need to audit the failures of the left and the Labour Party<br />
* Retreat from the public sphere<br />
* Failure to recognise the gains of capitalism and progress through generations<br />
* Need to recognise our agency for change, our historical consciousness<br />
* Good at saying what it’s against, less good at saying what it’s for<br />
* Not enough debate, too much infighting<br />
<br /><strong>Parallels and lessons from other liberation movements</strong><br />
* There are particularly strong parallels between autistic struggles for liberation and the LGBT liberation movement<br />
* Solidarity between different struggles is powerful – watch Pride!<br />
* Critique of 'identity politics* 'Neuroqueer’ is interesting<br />
* Is the far higher rate of diagnosis of autism in males due to it being more prevalent in males, or due to gendered diagnosis?</p>
<p><strong>What is our group for and where do we go from here?</strong><br />
* We are a 'thinktank' about autism and Marxism, intending our theoretical work to help build solidarity and struggle.<br />
* Our emphasis is on developing theory.<br />
* We will arrange at least two further meetings, at least one of which will be on a weekend.<br />
* We will decide a name for our group at the next meeting.<br />
* Janine will write up and circulate the notes of this discussion.<br />
* Janine will suggest to Workers' Liberty a session on our work at its annual Ideas for Freedom event this year.* Everyone is welcome to write (or record, or draw, or whatever your preferred medium) a contribution to further discussion.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div></div></div>Sun, 03 Jul 2016 15:21:30 +0000Janine659 at http://janinebooth.comMarxism and Autism: there is a spectrum haunting Europehttp://janinebooth.com/content/marxism-and-autism-there-spectrum-haunting-europe
<div class="field field-name-field-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">Saturday, July 9, 2016 - <div class="date-display-range"><span class="date-display-start">18:30</span> to <span class="date-display-end">20:00</span></div></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/272bb3314cc908eeb46a92163f566b99.jpg" title="Marxism and Autism: there is a spectrum haunting Europe" class="colorbox" data-colorbox-gallery="gallery-node-658-bBtCoRVSEwk"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/272bb3314cc908eeb46a92163f566b99.jpg?itok=cNIsuOzn" width="220" height="220" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As part of <a href="http://www.workersliberty.org/ideas">Workers' Liberty's annual Ideas For Freedom event</a>, Janine and Dr Dinah Murray will introduce a discussion on Marxism and autism.</p>
<p>How can Marxism explain the autistic experience in modern capitalism? What is the political economy of the neurodiverse working class? How are autistic people exploited and oppressed?</p>
<p>Venue: Student Central, Malet Street, London.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/equalities">Equalities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/autism">Autism</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism-and-autism">Marxism and Autism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-media field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Media:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/media/speeches">Speeches</a></div></div></div>Sat, 02 Jul 2016 19:35:33 +0000Janine658 at http://janinebooth.comOppression, Liberation and Disabilityhttp://janinebooth.com/content/oppression-liberation-and-disability
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/wheelchairbreakchains.jpg?itok=P-BZrXp_" width="220" height="220" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://www.workersliberty.org/node/25145"><em>This article was published in Solidarity 365, 20 May 2015</em></a></p>
<p>As we wage the fight of our lives against Tory government attacks on disabled people, it may seem that discussing “models” of disability is an irrelevance, a distraction, a waste of time.</p>
<p>But the approach we use to understand disabled people’s position in capitalist society makes a big difference. Understanding oppression lays the foundation for an effective struggle for liberation.</p>
<p>There are several “models” used to describe disability. The two most prominent are the medical and the social models.</p>
<p>In short, the medical model sees the person’s physical or mental impairment as the problem, and therefore focuses on what a person can not do. The solution it offers is treatment, cure or, failing that, managing the person as an incomplete or defective human being who needs pity, care and decisions made on his/her behalf.</p>
<p>The social model, in contrast, distinguishes between impairment and disability. Impairment is the shortfall in full bodily or mental functioning; disability is the obstruction that society places in the way of an impaired person’s equal participation. Barriers may be physical eg. steps; use of limited means of communication eg. print but not Braille; attitudes and prejudices; financial and social disadvantage and stress.</p>
<p>For example, a wheelchair user attempts to enter a building but is confronted by steps. The medical model regards the person’s impairment as the problem; the social model says that although this is an impairment, the disability is the lack of an alternative to the steps. The medical model would either leave the person outside, or perhaps lift him/her up the steps; the social model would have installed a ramp or lift already.</p>
<p>The medical model has a long history, while the social model was devised by disability rights activists within the last half-century as a challenge to it.</p>
<p>Industrial production caused physical injury on a large scale; imperialist war caused still more. The victims of these, together with other impaired people, have long been treated as objects of pity, whose only hope lay in either a medical cure or dependence and charitable care. The consequence of this has been to disable people, consigning them to institutions or to poverty and social exclusion.</p>
<p>The 1960s and 70s saw a surge in liberation struggles — anti-war protests, feminism, gay liberation, workers’ struggles, and the black civil rights movement. A disability rights movement also grew. Activists spoke out against discrimination and set up Independent Living Centres in several countries.</p>
<p>By the mid-70s, socialists in this movement were outlining a distinction between impairment and disability. This became the foundation of the social model of disability. It turned the medical model on its head, and provided a tremendous boost to the confidence and assertiveness of the disability movement. It is a liberatory approach.</p>
<p>The social model, and the movement behind it, has achieved significant progress. Pitiful images of crippled kids on charity collection boxes are being left in the past. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities takes a social model approach, having been drafted by representatives of disabled people’s organisations.</p>
<p>However, even where there has been progress in our legal rights, it is often based on, and therefore limited by, the medical model. The UK’s disability discrimination legislation, incorporated in the 2010 Equality Act, requires a person to prove that they are disabled and therefore entitled to the limited rights contained in the Act by showing what they can not do. It is an individualistic and demeaning process focused on a person’s shortcomings rather than on the barriers that society places in their way.</p>
<p>A social model approach would require organisations to identify barriers and remove them rather than relying on individuals to plead for special treatment. The last Labour government nudged UK legislation in a social model direction by introducing the Equality Duty in 2006, obliging public sector bodies to challenge discrimination and promote equality, but the 2010-15 Tory/LibDem coalition government weakened the Duty to the point of practical uselessness.</p>
<p>Attitudes based on the medical model of disability help to maintain and condone the continuing inequality and marginalisation experienced by disabled people.</p>
<p>If the blame lies with the impairment, then there is a logic to blame the impaired person, especially if it can be portrayed as self-inflicted or “all in the mind”. Even if it is not their fault, or a cover for their idleness, then the medical model suggests that what we need is pity rather than the removal of obstacles. In “tough economic times”, pity — or at least, the money to give it practical expression — becomes a luxury society can no longer afford. Disabled people become scroungers, a burden, the “undeserving poor” of the Victorian era.</p>
<p>The social model of disability is not in itself a Marxist theory. Indeed, it is a model — an approach, a way of understanding, a guide to action — rather than strictly a ‘theory’ at all. It is, however, consistent with Marxism.</p>
<p>There are some criticisms of the social model, in particular that it disregards the genuinely significant impact of impairment, and that it fails to address other oppressions alongside disability. However, its strength is that it describes disability in a materialist way, in the context of the society in which impaired people live. That [capitalist] society causes many impairments and causes discrimination and disadvantage even where it does not cause impairment.</p>
<p>By focusing on material, social barriers, the social model offers the prospect of removing them and achieving equality and liberation through self-organisation and struggle. To paraphrase Marx, disabled people have thus far had to deal with an oppressive society; the point, however, is to change it.</p>
<p>• The TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee’s guidance, Trade Unions and Disabled Members: Why the social model matters, can be downloaded <a href="http://www.tuc.org.uk/disability">here</a>.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-writing field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Writing:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/writing/articles">Articles</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-issues-and-campaigns field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Issues and campaigns:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/equalities">Equalities</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/disability">Disability rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/tuc-disabled-workers-committee">TUC Disabled Workers&#039; Committee</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues-and-campaigns/marxism">Marxism</a></div></div></div>Sat, 23 May 2015 14:24:58 +0000Janine314 at http://janinebooth.comShould the Workers' Movement Have Special Structures for Women?http://janinebooth.com/content/should-workers-movement-have-special-structures-women
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://janinebooth.com/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/default_images/jb-default-pic.png?itok=ghDg9WsE" width="220" height="220" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>The fourth in a series of articles about the German socialist women's movement 1890-1914, written in 2005, originally published <a href="http://www.workersliberty.org/node/4966">here</a>:</em></p>
<p><strong>Laws against women’s organisation</strong></p>
<p>After Bismarck’s Anti-Socialist Law lapsed in 1890, laws remained which restricted women’s political activity. The 1851 Prussian Association Law banned women from membership of political organisations, and from organising politically.</p>
<p>The application of the law varied between different states, but throughout Germany, women’s political activity was severely curtailed. In general, women were not allowed to attend any meeting at which public affairs were discussed. In 1886, Emma Ihrer was fined 60 Marks for discussing ‘unacceptable’ topics, such as working women’s wages and female suffrage.</p>
<p>Women were forced to get around these laws. In many cases, organising distinctly as women could achieve this, albeit temporarily. In some places, working-class women found it possible legally to take part in women-only meetings. Working women’s associations survived (although not without harassment) until 1893, when the police disbanded them.</p>
<p>From 1900, some states relaxed the implementation of the Association Law. In 1902, the Prussian Secretary of State ruled that women could now attend political meetings alongside men - on condition that they sat separately, and did not clap or boo!</p>
<p>This signalled the beginning of moves within the SPD to reduce the organisational independence of the socialist women’s movement.</p>
<p><strong>The end of the law</strong></p>
<p>In 1908, the Association Law was repealed, and the SPD set about completely integrating the women’s organisation into the Party’s structures. The Party Executive: dissolved all separate women’s organisation; removed any independence from the Women’s Bureau and subordinated it to the Party Executive; and assumed for itself control over agitation amongst women. The Women’s Bureau was eventually to be dissolved in 1912, and the biannual Women’s Conference was postponed in 1910 and subsequently abolished.</p>
<p>One seat on the Party Executive was to be reserved for a woman: Luise Zietz was appointed. At the time, she supported special women’s organisations, regardless of the Association Law. Once on the Executive, however, she argued for full integration.</p>
<p>Ironically, in the same year (1907) that the German SPD abandoned the system of women organisers (Vertrauenspersonen), considering it no longer necessary after the law change, Austrian socialist women introduced the system. It proved a tremendous success: by 1910, the Austrian socialist party had 15,000 women members.</p>
<p>Clara Zetkin believed that the abolition of the Association Law did not abolish the need for some autonomy for socialist women. In 1908, she called for the retention of women-only groups for education and agitation. Five years later, Zetkin continued to argue that “If the women of the people are to be won for socialism then we need in part special ways, means and methods ... whose driving and executive forces are predominantly women.”</p>
<p><strong>Building unity?</strong></p>
<p>The SPD integrated the women’s organisation into party structures in the name of class unity. But some women felt that the opposite was true. Fride Wulff argued that relations between men and women in the SPD worsened following integration.</p>
<p>One result of integration was a new division of labour within the SPD. Women came to dominate work on welfare issues, especially child labour committees, and were kept out of positions of responsibility and authority on other matters. The evidence suggests strongly that formal equality and integration masked actual disunity.</p>
<p>When the National Executive refused to organise a women’s congress in 1910, many women wrote to Die Gleichheit in protest. For these women, one of the roles of the women’s section was to articulate the demands of women within the Party, and to do so against Party leaders if necessary.</p>
<p><strong>Forced by the law?</strong></p>
<p>In 1981, Socialist Workers Party guru Tony Cliff addressed the issue of the German socialist women’s organisation: “If Zetkin opposed the ghettoisation of women workers both industrially and politically, why then did she build a separate socialist women’s organisation? The reason was quite simple. The law did not allow women to join any political party in the greater part of the Reich until 1908. To circumvent the law Zetkin and her friends had to adopt very awkward measures.”</p>
<p>But even when the Law was scrapped, the socialist women tenaciously defended their women’s structures against the Party bureaucracy’s attempts to dismantle them. The women clearly believed that these structures would continue to benefit their participation in the socialist movement, even when the legal necessity to organise distinctly no longer applied.</p>
<p>We can only speculate as to the course the women might have taken had they not faced these legal restrictions. But the benefits of special women’s organisation for both working-class women and for the workers’ movement as a whole go beyond the need to accommodate to repressive laws.</p>
<p><strong>Obstacles to women</strong></p>
<p>Cliff argues that only the Association Law caused women to organise distinctly. Does this mean that the law was the only obstacle to women’s equal participation in the struggle for socialism?</p>
<p>The experience when such laws were not in force shows that simply the legal right to organise politically alongside men does not guarantee that women participate in equal numbers or on an equal basis with men. For example, in 1914 the French Socialist Party’s membership of over 90,000 included less than 1,000 women.</p>
<p>In some cases, blame for the low level of women’s participation rests with the anti-feminism of the policy and leadership of socialist parties. This was a factor in both France and England at this time. But in the German SPD, there was at least a theoretical commitment to women’s equality. So, what further obstacles existed?</p>
<ul><li>Socialists could not expect their own movement to be immune from the prejudices and gender socialisation of society as a whole: this socialisation discouraged working-class women from having the confidence or aspirations to be politically active.</li>
<li>Capitalist economic relations assign women an exhausting, time-consuming ‘double burden’ of waged work and domestic labour.</li>
<li>Women also occupied a weaker position in the labour market. Women generally stayed in a particular job for a shorter time than men, which may have discouraged them from involvement in political or trade union organisation.</li>
<li>Women’s limited education opportunities hit their ability and confidence to become active.</li>
<li>Discrimination in political rights - for example, the vote - served to assert that ‘public life’ or politics was not a sphere for women.</li>
<li>Women’s position as ‘the slave of the man’ restricted a woman’s ability to make her own independent decision to become involved in socialist activity. Even many socialist men discouraged their wives and daughters from becoming politically involved.</li>
</ul><p><strong>Is self-organisation the answer?</strong></p>
<p>Women argued that because of all these obstacles, it would be absurd for the Party to adopt a ‘sex-blind’ formal equality in the Party’s structures. This would do nothing to challenge inequalities; instead, it would mask them.</p>
<p>These women’s experience points to two good reasons to see women’s self-organisation as an appropriate strategy. Firstly, the women’s structure achieved obvious success in organising women in the fight for socialism. Secondly, it generated strategies for the SPD as a whole to take up the challenge of involving, recruiting and representing working-class women.</p>
<p><strong>Sexism in the workers’ movement</strong></p>
<p>Clara Zetkin complained that: “In theory comrades have equal rights, but in practice the male comrades have the same philistine pigtail hanging down the back of their necks as do the best-wigged petty bourgeois.” Others complained that capable women were obstructed; that women’s criticism of the Party leadership or of male chauvinism in the Party was often put down in a sexist manner; and that male socialists used sarcasm and ridicule to undermine women.</p>
<p>For women on the Party’s left wing, it seemed that just as the Party bureaucracy’s reformist practice was increasingly at odds with its public, revolutionary rhetoric, so socialist men did not live up to their formal support for women’s equality. Many socialist men (including leading figures such as August Bebel and Karl Kautsky) acted as patriarchs within their own families, discouraging their wives and daughters from working outside the home.</p>
<p><strong>Bernstein and revisionism</strong></p>
<p>Around the turn of the century, conflict intensified between the revolutionary and revisionist wings of the SPD. From 1897, Eduard Bernstein advanced theories that some basic elements of Marxism were no longer valid. He rejected the idea that capitalism contains contradictions that sow the seeds of its own demise. Bernstein also refuted the centrality of class struggle; he argued that revolution was not necessary for socialism, that gradual reforms of capitalism would be sufficient. Under this theory, the SPD’s role would be as a propagandist electoral machine, not as a revolutionary, political leadership of working-class struggle.</p>
<p>The SPD left, which included Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin, strongly opposed this ‘revisionist’ move. The revolutionary wing took up the issue of Party democracy and the dangers of growing bureaucratisation. Even before the revisionist tendency came to dominate German social democracy, the Party became increasingly bureaucratic; and whilst the SPD remained revolutionary in theory, it became increasingly reformist in practice. Sexist behaviour in the SPD took place in this political context. It was used by the right wing as a weapon against left-wing women.</p>
<p>The women’s movement, though by no means politically uniform, was aligned with the SPD left. When the Party leadership supported Luise Zietz rather than Clara Zetkin for the new women’s seat on the Party Executive in 1908, it was a political choice for an accommodating moderate over a vociferous revolutionary.</p>
<p><strong>Tony Cliff and women’s self-organisation</strong></p>
<p>Tony Cliff puts together an argument which begins with support for Zetkin’s stance against collaboration with bourgeois feminists, and concludes by denying any benefit from special women’s organisation. Cliff argues that capitalist economic development simultaneously unites and divides workers - that whilst it creates a working class that is increasingly cohesive, it also sets up barriers between workers on the basis of (amongst others) sex and nationality.</p>
<p>Cliff cites Lenin’s argument against the Bund, the Jewish socialist organisation in Russia. The Bund advocated that due to the antisemitism experienced by Jewish workers, they should organise into a separate party, which would then have federal links with non-Jewish socialists. Lenin argued that this would divide and weaken the workers’ movement.</p>
<p>But the German socialist women never put forward a policy like the Bund’s. Cliff does not draw any distinction between two quite different policies: on the one hand, a separate socialist women’s organisation; on the other, distinct structures for women within the socialist movement.</p>
<p><strong>The strong helping the weak?</strong></p>
<p>Cliff also argues that “The relations between different sections of the proletariat are such that the weaker sections are helped very much by the stronger when there is a general upturn, while they are badly damaged during a downturn.” Cliff seems to conclude that socialists should concentrate on ‘stronger sections’, hoping this will develop of the weaker sections in a ‘trickle-down’ way.</p>
<p>Marx advocated working-class struggle to achieve win legal reforms, welcoming the Ten Hours Bill in Britain in 1847. One reason for fighting for the ‘political economy of the working class’ was that law reforms could advance the whole of the working class, whereas struggle in individual workplaces may benefit stronger sections but leave weaker sections still weak.</p>
<p>Weaker groups of workers may well benefit from the success of stronger groups: but it is also the case that strengthening the weaker sections benefits the movement as a whole. Not only do working-class women benefit from the struggles of working-class men: working-class men also benefit from the strong organisation of working-class women.</p>
<p>Cliff then claims that “The higher the level of class struggle, the more accentuated are the differences between the level of consciousness and organisation of different sections of the class.” He uses a low level of women’s organisation as a measure of how advanced working class struggle is! He comes dangerously close to suggesting that working-class women have little contribution to make to the struggle for socialism.</p>
<p>Stronger sections of the working class may perceive their advantages over weaker sections to be privileges that they should defend. For example, male workers who followed Lassalle’s policies saw women’s entry into the workforce as a threat to their wages and status as men. There are many other examples, for instance ‘craftism’ in the trades unions.</p>
<p>One more point about the ‘strong’ and the ‘weak’. From the Matchgirls to the Grunwick strikers, women workers have continually proved themselves to be stronger than expected. Write off women workers as a ‘weak section of the working class’ and you risk under-estimating a source of great power.</p>
<p><strong>Questions for socialists</strong></p>
<p>If the working class is divided, if there are ‘stronger’ and ‘weaker’ sections, the question for socialists is: do we accept this as inevitable, or do we make efforts to redress this? And if working-class women, in struggling for their emancipation, build a socialist women’s movement, how should a socialist party respond? By joining that movement and attempting to build and influence it? Or by arguing that it should give up any autonomy and liquidate itself into the general working-class movement?</p>
<p>Does women’s self-organisation divide the workers’ movement? Do supporters of self-organisation believe that the fight for women’s liberation is a fight for women to wage alone? In both cases, no.</p>
<p>Although the German socialist women were continually frustrated by the attitudes of men in the labour movement, Zetkin did not believe that working-class women could or should achieve liberation by themselves. She saw women’s liberation being achieved through socialism, and socialism being achieved through the united action of the working class. The purpose of building women’s organisations was to bring women into a united workers’ movement, not to separate women off into a liberation struggle apart from socialist men.</p>
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